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Five Things We Learned: Is It Lester's Time?

On April 18, Jon Lester allowed seven hits and seven runs in six innings to take the loss against the Rays. His record stood at 0-2 and his ERA was 8.44. When he stood in front of the assembled media after the game he did so as a pitcher at a crossroads. While the reason for his struggles may have been a mystery (usual slow start? Mechanical problems? Lack of confidence? An injury?) there was no layer of doubt surrounding the message from the left-hander.

"I just have to be better," Lester said. "It's unacceptable. I'm letting my rotation down, I'm letting our bullpen down and I'm letting the team down."

Ten days later and things have changed considerably.

Lester dominated the Blue Jays on Wednesday, allowing no runs and just a single hit over seven innings while striking out 11. He picked up his first win of the season and the Red Sox climbed back to the .500 mark for the first time since April 14 with a 2-0 win over Toronto to complete a three-game sweep.

This was the guy that many Serious Baseball People people picked to win the Cy Young Award. Lester gave up a second-inning double to Vernon Wells and then retired the next 14 batters, using a mix of his 96 MPH fastball and a host of off-speed stuff to keep the Blue Jays hitters flustered.

"He was able to use both sides of the plate," said Jason Varitek. "He was a little strong early, but he was able to settle into his delivery quite a bit after that. He enabled us to use both sides of the plate and gave them a little different feel then they were used to."

Here's the thing about Josh Beckett and John Lackey. We know, with those guys, what the ceiling is. And what it is isn't too shabby. But with Lester there is an unknown. Games like the one he pitched on Wednesday give momentum to the idea that Lester might turn out to be one of the three or four best pitchers in baseball. And as good as Beckett and Lackey are, they aren't that kind of good.

Maybe Wednesday night (against, admittedly, a team that will never be confused with the 1998 Yankees) will turn out to be Day One of the Jon Lester as Red Sox ace era. Or perhaps two weeks from now he'll be 1-5 with a 1.88 WHIP.

If Francona were following the How To Handle A Young Pitcher in 2010 handbook Lester would have been done after six innings. After all, he had thrown 106 pitches (any total over 90 earns you a "Gutsy" badge from Rick Sutcliffe.) But Francona decided to let him pitch the seventh, and what a move that turned out to be. Lester struck out Jose Bautista, coaxed a foul pop-up out of Vernon Wells and punched out Lyle Overbay (looking) on a curveball.

Lester finished with a season-high 119 pitches, so it'll be worth watching to see if the increased workload will be used as an excuse should he falter in his next start vs. the Angels.

Bard has struck out 14 batters and walked none over his last 7.2 innings pitched.

Wednesday night had a playoff formula going, didn't it? Lester for seven, then turn it over to Bard and Papelbon. No Okajima or Delcarmen or Ramirez or any of the question marks. Just the top-shelf choices.

OK, he's only played in nine games. But the Red Sox are 7-2 in those nine (4-9 in games without D-Mac. Is it D-Mac, by the way? It should be.) He's hitting .333 with an OPS of 1.074 after Wednesday, a game that saw McDonald drive in one of the Red Sox' two runs and score the other. An amazing story that will end, probably, but if (big if) McDonald keeps this up when Cameron returns what will happen?

"It is a good story," Francona said of McDonald. "We tell the guys when we send them to Triple-A all the time, do your job and if there's a need be ready to come help us. And that's exactly what he's doing."

Now batting .247 with a .338 slugging percentage. Sure, he'll get to where he usually ends up, I guess, but when?

The last time Martinez homer? The second game of the season. Do you know how long ago that was? No one had ever heard of Darnell McDonald yet, for crying out loud.

I don't know the best way to secure a lucrative long-term deal from a major-league team, but having more GIDP (a league-high eight) than homers and RBI combined (six) nearly a month into a contract year can't be part of the formula.

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

Mike Reiss calls the guys to talk about the offseason news for the Pats. He talks about the Pats/Jets tampoering fiasco, free agency, where he sees Ridley and Connolly ending up, if the Patriots would be interested in Reggie Wayne and more.

In the first hour of the show, Greg and Chris discuss the news coming out of the owners' meetings this week and rule changes. Belichick's blow-up over the league not wanting to spend on endzone cameras was well documented and the guys react. They also talk about the Jets ridiculous tampering charges, free agents still lingering out there, where Stevan Ridley will land and the RB position in New England. Dickerson and Price briefly discuss the adventures of Tom Brady before being joined by WEEI.com's Mike Petraglia to talk all things Pats in the offseason.

Flannery joins Mut to break down the Isaiah Thomas trade to Boston and what it means for the Celtics this season and in the future. Paul also chats with Mut about the other deals that happened at the NBA's trading deadline

Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

Peter Chiarelli joined the Sunday Skate crew to talk about the Bruins playoff push heading into the final handful of games of the regular season. Chiarelli talked about avoiding some of the overly negative feedback he gets while realizing that the team does have real issues. He discusses what went down at the trade deadline and if he was happy with the outcome, Lucic having a down year and underperforming, the salary cap and if he considers it as big of an issue as it's been made out to be and what the future holds for the team.

It's a big hour #2 for the Sunday Skate dudes - they talk about the B's defenseman and what the future looks like at that position, with both moves the team can make and younger guys in the AHL. They also get into the Bruins philosophy on bringing guys up and sending them back down and how players deal with that. Finally, the boys are joined by Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to discuss EVERYTHING.

The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

With the Wells report seemingly wrapping up (we hope), Tim and Lou got to talking about possible fines and punishments the Patriots must face. It's possible that the Patriots will face a small fine, but should they take that laying down? The conversation brings out a little passion from BOTH sides.